Book of Revelation

Question

I have a variety of concerns with regard to the Book of Revelation.

Answer

Thank you for your inquiry. Before I begin addressing some of your concerns, point by point, I think that it is important to state that the Book of Revelation cannot be properly interpreted without understanding the historic context in which it was written. Traditionally ascribed to the hand of the Apostle John during his exile on Patmos, it is generally accepted that the book was written during the intense persecution of the Christian Faith during the tenure of Domitian, the Roman Emperor from 81 - 96 AD.

Now, we know from elsewhere in the New Testament that the early Christians were convinced that Christ’s Second Coming was near, and undoubtedly this expectation was only further fueled during the severe persecution ordered by Emperor Domitian, who put Christians to death for refusing to worship him as a “god”—after he had proclaimed himself so. Given the fact that the early Christians were enduring a horrible period of persecution, the main theme of Revelation is to provide the persecuted Christians with a sense of hope that would encourage them to remain faithful to Christ despite the fact that at any moment they could be put to death for the Faith. Hence, Revelation focuses on the ultimate triumph of the Kingdom of God and how the Christians by remaining loyal and faithful to Christ, will ultimately reap the rewards promised by Christ. The vision of the Apostle John recorded in Revelation was a reminder from God to the faithful not to give in to their enemies, but to remain faithful. They were challenged to remain hopeful and spiritually strong and to overcome state pressure, the slander against Christians that was prevalent in the synagogues, false teachers, etc. While the Book of Revelation does speak of events yet to come—such as the Second Coming of Our Lord—it is not a book that was written primarily to reveal contemporary or coming events. An example from recent history will help to make this point.

In the 1970s there was an extremely popular book titled “The Late Great Planet Earth” which allegedly “interpreted” the Book of Revelation. Among the things found in this book was the idea that Revelation was speaking about such things as the Soviet Union, nuclear attacks between the USSR and the US, etc. When Mikhail Gorbachov became president of Russia, individuals who followed the “Planet Earth” type of interpretation stated that Gorbachov was the antichrist, citing the references in Revelation to the “mark of the beast”—666—as proof of this. Gorbachov, if you recall, had a rather large birth mark on his forehead. While the birth mark in no way resembles the numbers 666, if one traces them in a certain manner one can arrive at this conclusion. So, many people were saying that the end of the world was near because Gorbachov, complete with the “mark of the beast” on his forehead, had emerged as a world leader but in reality was the antichrist and that the Soviet Union is going to devour the nations of the world. All sorts of “proofs” fromRevelation were given for this idea. Of course, the Soviet Union collapsed, as did the communist system, and Gorbachov was in fact rejected by his own people and retired into a quiet life. So much for these kinds of interpretations. Weird interpretations of Revelation are not new. Already in the second and third centuries there were so many twisted and sensational misinterpretations that the false teachings that arose caused great confusion to the Christians of the time. For this reason, while the Book of Revelation was included in the Canon of Scripture, it was not permitted to be read publicly in the services of the Church. Now that you have a little background, I’ll respond to some of the points
you make, one at a time.

YOU WRITE:

I was always in a friendly manner told not to read these books or try to interpret it to my knowledge, I did not try to do that, but it was so simple and in clear English, that I could not help but interpret.

RESPONSE:

The Orthodox Church does not persuade people not to read Revelation. It does caution people to read it with a solid background knowledge of the rest of Scripture, especially the New Testament, and with a basic understanding of the times which produced Revelation. At the same time, the Orthodox Church does not accept the notion that everyone can properly interpret the Bible as he or she wants. Some Protestant bodies believe in this, but Orthodoxy does not. We say that the Church has the ability to properly interpret Scripture, and this means that we should study and adopt the interpretations that have been handed down over the 2000 years of the Church’s living history. Given the fact that that which is contained in Scripture is the inspired word of God, revealed to mankind and not to a single individual, no individual has the right or ability to offer “the” definitive interpretation of Scripture. This is especially the case with Revelation, which as noted above cannot be interpreted as one wishes, lest one come to ridiculous conclusions that Gorbachov’s birthmark is the “mark of the beast.”

YOU WRITE:

Recently the Catholic church has asked all its daughters to come back home to them, are we a daughter of the Catholic church?

RESPONSE:

I have not heard of the Catholic Church doing this, unless you are referring to the constant reports of Pope John Paul II’s attempts to bring about unity among all Christians. And since the Catholic Church broke communion with Orthodoxy, the Orthodox Church, which was established on Pentecost, 50 days after Christ’s resurrection, is not a “daughter” of the Catholic Church. Orthodox Christianity did not emerge out of Roman Catholicism, as the Protestants did.

YOU WRITE:

In the book of Daniel and in Revelation the Harlot sat on the beast and drank the blood of the saints, “Martyrs”, not only of end times but I suspect of all she has killed during the history of church ? Clearly it says the the Harlot is a city that sits on seven mountains, and the only mountain that is found sitting on any seven mountains is Rome, is that the Harlot, considering that they are the Roman Catholic church and have made many many martyrs.

RESPONSE:

The Harlot is interpreted by the Orthodox Church to be the Roman Empire, not the Roman Catholic Church, which did not exist at that time—and even if it did, it would be ridiculous to say that the Roman Catholic Church drank the blood of the Christian martyrs!! In line with the introductory remarks I wrote above, a great persecution was going on at the hands of the pagan Roman Empire. The imagery here is clear—the pagan Roman Empire, which conducted bloody persecutions of Christians for some 300 years, is that which “drank the blood of the martyrs.” From a Christian of the first century’s perspective, Rome is the bloodthirsty harlot, not the Roman Catholic Church!

YOU WRITE:

The Harlot was wearing Purple and Red linen. The Catholic church’s official color for Bishops is Red and for Archbishops is purple, or is it for deacons, it is one way or another, this can be found in any good catholic book.

RESPONSE:

Would you agree with this statement: “Horses have brown hair. Mary has brown hair. Therefore, Mary is a horse.” Of course, there is absolutely no truth to such a statement, even though it seems to be somewhat logical. To say that because the harlot was wearing purple and red, colors worn by Catholic clergy—Orthodox clergy also wear these colors, by the way!—is like saying: “The Harlot wore purple and red. Catholic bishops wear purple and red. Therefore, Catholic bishops are the Harlot.” There is no more truth to this than there is in the statement concerning Mary being a horse.

YOU WRITE:

I have always been taught that all organizations will fall in fron of the Antichrist, however even after its reign for time and times and time and a half, it is still finding resisting form the North and the East. It is interesting that USA is North, because the woman that escapes with the child and moon under her feet , is actually escaping with eagles wings. USA has the greatest airlift capabilities in the world. And the official sign for the USA is the Eagle.

RESPONSE:

While Revelation does say that all organizations will be deceived by Antichrist, there is nothing whatsoever in Revelation that deals with the United States or the American Eagle. Yes, the USA is North, but so is everything above the Equator. One cannot read too much into these things, as was the case with the Gorbachov birth mark. Many people believed that that was true—if it was, then why did Gorbachov fall from public sight?

YOU WRITE:

As far as the lion is concerned , well, that would have be England, that is there sign, and who is yet to hear about the Russian Bear.

RESPONSE:

Again, the lion has nothing to do with England—if you read Church history you will find that one of the most popular forms of killing the early Christians was to throw them to the lions [and hungry bears too!] in the arena, and this image surely evoked horrible thoughts for the early Christians—and the bear has nothing to do with Russia. I am always amazed that people associate the bear with Russia since Russia does not associate the bear with itself!! It is not on the national emblem of Russia—on the communist emblem one found a hammer and sickle and one of the most popular “logos” for post-communist Russia is St. George on the horse killing the dragon. In 1980, the Soviet Union hosted the Olympics in Moscow. The “official mascot” was the “Misha bear”—hardly a frightening figure. There may have been a connection between the Soviet Union [which is not exactly the same thing as Russia] and the Olympic mascot Misha bear, and the wilderness of Siberia is known to contain many bears, but so is Yellowstone National Park. In fact, lately there have been a number of reports of bears in Yellowstone attacking tourists. I’m sure there is someone who would make a connection with Revelation who would interpret these events as being found in Revelation, which is ridiculous as well.

YOU WRITE:

As far as the leopard was concerned, if I’m not mistaken which I know I’m not, Germanys’biggest tank is the Leopard Tank. To put it in perspective, it is like the American Fighter Eagle, it is the German Tank Leopard.

RESPONSE:

There is a woman in my parish who, during the cold winter months, always wears a leopard skin coat and hat. She even has a few dresses with leopard skin prints. Everyone in the parish calls her “leopard woman.” How would you respond to a person who would call her the fulfillment of the leopard reference in Revelation? A little ridiculous, no doubt. Revelation does not concern itself with German tanks.

YOU WRITE:

It can not all be coincidence, these are no small non priorities in the world today, like Australia or so on. These are great influencing countries. I have no idea what to make of them.

RESPONSE:

Not much. To read these things into Revelation is like interpreting Gorbachov’s birthmark as the “sign of the beast.” Maybe you’re starting to see why, already in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the Church was very cautious about how Revelation is interpreted.

YOU WRITE:

These are just one sort of a interpretation as what I’ve heard.

RESPONSE:

And as a priest of 27 years, I have heard all sorts of similar interpretations. Do you know that some people have interpreted certain passages of Ezekiel as proving that UFOs really exist? If you don’t believe me, try to find another wildly popular book from the 1970s titled “Chariot of the Gods.” Many people believed that indeed the Bible proves the existence of UFOs. Ridiculous.

YOU WRITE:

Concerning the end times, the Orthodox church has always in my experience brushed it aside saying it is rather too complicated to be spoken about.

RESPONSE:

The Orthodox Church has never brushed aside the end times. In fact, what do we proclaim in the Creed: “He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, Whose Kingdom shall have no end…. I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” There is a whole facet of Orthodox theology known specifically as “eschatology,” which means “the study of the last things.” Many of the Church Fathers have written about the end times. [We don’t know about this because we don’t bother to read what the Church Fathers wrote.] But the fact of the matter is, there is only so much we can say because there is not alot that Christ has revealed to us. He tells us He will come again, that He will judge all mankind, that He will be victorious once and for all over all evil, that those who have remained faithful to Him will indeed find spending eternity in His presence “paradise.” And that’s about it. No mention of Gorbachev, UFOs, the Soviet Union, tanks, or anything else. Now, while He does say that before He returns “nation will rise against nation,” one would hardly find a period in history in which nations weren’t rising against nations. There has always been war. There has always been killing and murder and deception and evil, ever since the sin of Adam and Eve. In fact, so long as Satan—the “father of lies and master of deceit,” to quote Christ—continues to deceive people, there will always be evil. When Christ comes again, the deception of Satan will be revealed fully, and any power that mankind may give Satan will be eternally destroyed. So, if it appears that Orthodoxy has not said much about the end times, it may be because we have read so little of what the Church Fathers write about this, or it may be because the Orthodox Church cannot reveal things that have not been revealed. The basic message of Christ is to live according to God’s will and that, if we do, we will have not worry for the future. This is a recurring theme in the words and teaching of Jesus Christ.

YOU WRITE:

Why is that the case when blessed is the man who reads and hears this words.

RESPONSE:

One is indeed blessed when one reads Scripture—but one must read Scripture with understanding, and this means understanding the context in which things were written. Indeed, Scripture is the revealed word of God; sadly, many read it yet completely miss the point of what they read, or have interpreted what they read so incorrectly that they arrive at wildly false conclusions.

YOU WRITE:

Maybe all my interpretations are wrong, but if no one else in the church is about to talk about it and I mean talk in Depth, then is it not my right to start doing as God instructed and read those passages for myself ?

RESPONSE:

There is a difference between reading the passages for yourself and interpreting them by yourself. There are a number of things you can do to understand the meaning of Scripture:

1. Ask your parish priest. We so often feel that “the Church doesn’t teach us anything” but we must remember that one can always ask questions. If you are not sure of what a particular passage of Scripture

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